Boobs, Glutes, Pecs, and Quads

The picture above is Seth, the new final boss in Street Fighter IV. Besides being not entirely human (what's the deal with the vortex?), Seth's muscular body looks ridiculous. Somehow the artists discovered (invented, if you will) a new muscle in the middle of the chest.

Video games take a lot of (deserved) flak for the plethora of unrealistically proportioned female characters. The list of culprits is a mile long: Ivy and Taki from the Soul Calibur series, Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series, Mai Shiranui from King of Fighters, and the entire female cast of Dead or Alive just to name a few. I've always found the appeal of these buxom beauties a little baffling. At some point doesn't the ample bosoms and super-small waists become more distracting than alluring? I think the fanboy preference of Aerith from Final Fantasy VII over Tifa wasn't just her tragic sacrifice, but that she looked like a girl they might actually meet somewhere.

But for all the griping about these absurd femme fatales, little to nothing is ever said about their overly muscular male counterparts. Compared to its contemporaries, Street Fighter's female combatants are fairly tame. Sure the idea of fighting in a swimsuit and combat boots is outlandish, but the bodies (mostly) resemble those of real women. The fellas on the other hand look like they've been seeing Bane's doctor. The character art makes this especially clear. The musculature on display there can only be seen on the dehydrated torsos of body builders in the thick of competition. Skintight clothing does nothing to inhibit the prominence of muscles either.

Translating the Street Fighter cast to high-definition has only exasperated the problem. The male cast members look more freakishly roided up than ever. There's also an issue with their facial animations, but that's for another post entirely. Looking at the screenshots, it looks like the team attempted to take the cartoonish and slightly exaggerated look of the character art and translate the look into 3D. The end result is some goofy looking fighters.

Of course, as a Street Fighter fanatic, I'll be there on day one to pick it up regardless. Going back to SFIV's almost-naked final boss, Seth (pretty bland name there) boasts the same type of over-the-top powers that Gill did in SFIII. What happened to the days of Bison and Sagat, when the final boss had abilities closer to the rest of the roster? Why not rely on smart computer AI to make the final battle tough instead of overpowered guys in speedos?

Having said all that, I can't wait for February 19th, 2009 to play with all the buxom and steroid-pumped fighters. Now where's my Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix?